9-7 record certainly suggests a successful season. Of course with the goal of every team to win the superbowl, it falls short. But, practically speaking, the Bucs had a good season.
Different units(O and D side of the ball) came together at different times of the season. This hurt the Bucs chances of making the playoffs - imo. The D came on later in the season. The O had injuries that required in season adjustments. In season adjustments are part of the game; so, that's not a total excuse.
The Bucs still have youth on their side - in particular Qb Jamies Winston. He shows both his greatness and weaknesses. I'd almost compare him to Bret Favre. In other words, he's going to just get better with experience.
- Bucs free agents that were a success - Lb Daryl Smith and Cb Brent Grimes were good vets to bring in. Daryl Smith maybe came on late. Brent Grimes probably has plenty of years left. Rookie Bonds looked like he can develop; but, unfortunely went on I.R. Bucs found a good special teams demon Cameron Lynch. Getting to the draft . . .
Hargreaves was a good pick. I go back and forth about drafting Rankins instead. Rankins got injured; but, when he came back recorded 4 sacks in limited time. I'm a big believer in drafting O and D lineman if they are better than what you have - unless there's Randy Moss/Bo Jackson sitting there(or if you need a Qb). This is nothing against Hargreaves personaly, and he looks like he's going to be a good player for the Bucs. I also say this in terms of Mike Evans. Yes, these are good picks/players; but, we've missed out on two Dt's now(the Rams Aaron Donald), and now, the Bucs are not in position to get anything good in the first round. From my first effort at looking at Dt's in this years draft, there's only two, and one is likely to move to De - Jonathan Allen and Malik McDowell. Unless Licht can find some small schooler, the Bucs look like they've missed out on creating a dominant Dl through the draft - for the foreseeable future.
I don't generally check out the Ol; but, that's where I'd look to second, then the skill position players. Remarkably, the Bucs might have a chance to add someone interesting there. Getting back to the rest of the Bucs draft last year . . .
Roberto Aguao will probably develop. It was a little surprising even to me( I wanted De Matt Judon; and I do kind of feel like I was right).
Noah Spence was good; I'd expect him to get better. Some might think that's surprising.
Ryan Smith is an athletic small schooler, who also shows natural instincts. He'll likely develop.
Caleb Benenoch looks like he'll develop
Bonds already mentioned . . . Fb/Te Dan Vitale didn't make the final roster; got picked up by another team; it happens.
Bucs also picked up some undrafteds(always a major plus! You know you have a talent scout when you do. Marty Shottenheimer was great at this) - Fb/Te Alan Cross, Hb/Fb Peyton Barber was a no brainer, Ot Leonard Webster, Channing Ward, Devonte Lambert( I honestly haven't seen enough of them to know what kind of players they are), and the most surprise find is Cb Javien Elliot. The Bucs have to feel pretty comfortable with the likelyhod of loosing Cb Alterraun Verner.
- The Bucs also picked up some other players - Wr Freddie Martino(a 4.4 small schooler with wr intelligence), Josh Huff who's kind of like Russel Sheppard skillwise; good after the catch.
Bucs picked up a couple of Dt's in Hughes and Siligia; more run stuffers and control the line of scrimmage guys to allow the linebackers to do there ting. De Ryan Russell seems kind of exciting to me.
Cb Josh Robinson did some good things on special teams and as a limited time player.
Jacquizz Rogers was a good pickup of course. As was Cecil Shorts; unfortunately, he got hurt again.
- Bucs had a lot of guys on I.R. - what would the passrush have been like with Jacq Smith in there? Every team has they're I.R. and what have been stories. But, it looks like Wr Murphy has decided to call it quits. That's disappointing.
- Players that emerged - Keith Tandy, Lavonte David . . . yes Lavonte; early in the year, he seemed to be in the wrong D system; but later in the year, the Bucs discovered he's a really great passrusher; Bucs should have known this about him already, actually. Still, they tried to put him in coverage; he's better in zone D than man. With Lavonte sized up for bltzing, maybe he doesn't have all that speed anymore. We'll see if Smitty stays or goes. Or whether whoever comes in(proably in house), whether the system stays the same. Akeem Spence did some good stuff on limited time.
- Overall, the Bucs roster looks talented; the chemistry is coming around. From what I hear, the Bucs have plenty of cap space to play with.
Coach Koetter needs to fight for Smitty; make him assistant head coach; pay him more Glazers. Koetter sounds like he's fine with him leaving; this seems the wrong attitude, imo.
